"It's Christmas TIME!!"

That is Hazel Rei's quote these days. She is absolutely loving Christmas. She loves Christmas songs, driving through our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights, and most of all she loves candy canes. It is quite an experience this Christmas. In the past, Hazel has been too young to really grasp the meaning of Christmas, or even notice the festivities...oh but this year she's totally on board. On board with the tree (taking off the ornaments and eating the candy canes), she's on board with Santa (never really introduced him, but she certainly knows he's suppose to bring her presents, and she even wants to make cookies for him), and on board with presents. She thinks my precious moments nativity set is a toy, and really desires to play with the baby Jesus...to which I say, "no Hazel, the baby Jesus is not a toy!" She loves to sit and look at the nativity set and say, "That's baby Jesus, his mommy, and his daddy". Jade, she is still young and I guess honestly she's not sure what's going on with the season, I do know one thing though, she loves to furiously shake the Christmas tree in order to hear the ornaments jingle...yup loves that.

One thing is true for sure...we can't wait till Christmas!!! Here are some pics of our "Montgomery Christmas time" kick off party, it was like 2 1/2 weeks ago when we got our tree and yes only 4 people were in attendance because we are very lacking in the friend department...but we had a blast as we always do. We picked out our favorite tree, decorated it, listened to Christmas music, and drank homemade hot chocolate...it was a delicious evening.

I must also note that the East Coast is a wonderful place to spend the holidays, yes it is cold (I'm surprised my fingers are not little nubs from being frozen off), and yes it's a major pain to bundle everyone up before leaving the house (the girls make this time REALLY fun...thanks girls), but it feels more like Christmas here for some reason...I still desperately miss wearing my rainbows don't get me wrong (and In-n-out--the perfect Holiday food--oh well anytime food---tear, tear)!

Merry Christmas, love Mon

Turkey Nachos

What to do with Thanksgiving leftovers? Well here at the Montgomery home, we have made tons of turkey hoagies...I being a purest with the toasted roll, white-meat, lettuce, and tomato...and Joe going for the roll, mashed potato, stuffing, dark-meat, and cranberry sauce. Having been the first year we actually made our own turkey, we had TONS of turkey leftovers. So we decided to make a huge, heaping helping of turkey nachos...and might I say they were fabulous.

Joe is near and dear to my heart for many reasons...one being that he is the least pretentious person when it comes to food. The guy is around all kinds of wonderfully fine foods all day...and yet can come home and grub on turkey nachos with his fam...I love him. OH, and Jade was a huge fan of the nachos as well. She dropped her pan from her play kitchen when she saw me walk by with the nachos, and crawled just as fast as her little arms and legs could go...never leaving the table...eating nachos all night...she is petite but sure can eat!! Jade's newest thing is, "mmm mmm" while eating...it is so cute! Little miss Hazey was a Nacho fan as well yet she goes for the suck-everything-off-of-the-chip-technique then re-dip in only sour cream, which we strongly discourage.

Classic Jade Face...

A hot tip...

"One man's junk is another man's treasure." Or so we've been told I guess. Joe got a hot tip that there was a flea market going on in Philly. Where you might ask does one catch such a hot tip? Well from a fellow junk collector at a "free" give away house that he heard about on craigslist of course. We showed up and it was interesting to say the least. It wasn't just any flea market with antiques and collectibles. Some old rockabilly type gentlemen where heading it up and they had all sorts of interesting items. We rummaged through all of the boxes, Hazel found a pig flashlight for $1 and really wanted a car...a little pedal car that is. I snapped a couple of shots of her out an about and I really think they are cute and wanted to share. Take care & God Bless!

Thanksgiving Deliciousness...

Thanksgiving Menu...

• Turkey-Joe brined it for a couple of days....I cooked it most of the way. It was soooooo delicious!


• Oyster Stuffing


• Sausage-apple Stuffing


• Mashed potatoes/mushroom gravy


• Creamed Corn


• Spinach salad with roasted pecans, dates, apples & blue cheese


• Cranberry sauce with tangerine, roasted pecans and ginger


• Parker-House rolls


• Sweet Potato Pie


• Pecan Pie

There are no words to fully articulate how delicious our meal was....and of course there were Turkey Hoagies the next day....yummmm!!! This was a collective effort between all adult Montgomerys, suffice to say we were all extremely exhausted post meal....wonderfully stuffed and content to be in the company of great family.

We are thankful for all of our friends and family. We are thankful for God's mercies, his salvation, direction, and love in our lives. As recent times have seem their share of trials, we have had to truly rely on the Lord for certain things an are amazed at how he has taken care of us.

Psalm 91
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty

Let us not forget to mention that this was Jade's very first Thanksgiving and boy oh boy did she relish it. She loved the food so much. I served her a little plate and usually monitor her eating, however after being exhausted and malnourished I proceeded to eat my food and later noticed that Jade had done an excellent job of feeding herself. She is just such a sweet blessing, we are indeed thankful for her as an addition to our family....she certainly completes us!!!

Auntie Boo

Yes she has amazing eyebrows, but that's not why we love her. We love "aunt boo" (aka Joe's sis) because she is truly an amazing person. She is always there for us. When Joe was working as a chef at this new restaurant, she was there....eagerly anticipating trying the food. When Hazel was turning 1, she was there, eagerly helping with birthday preparations and what not. When we were left all alone on Thanksgiving to fend for ourselves, she was there to partake in the gourmet excellence. We had the privilege of having Miss Mary Montgomery with us for a a visit. She is a Godly woman, an excellent sister, devoted daughter, granddaughter, auntie, the most amazing Olive Garden server EVER, etc, and has been there for me when I have needed her. Our relationship has grown in the past years and she has seen me at my worst (she knows, just ask her what a mess I can be...yeah surprised she still speaks to me) & best and still calls me and wants to be in my life. Thank you Mary for driving the 18+ hours from KC, for painting little toenails, and wiping noses, changing diapers, making stuffing, chucking oysters, eating popcorn with me, having our "real house wives" bravo marathon, the chats, and just for being you....we love you Auntie Boo!!! Also major props for my wearable blanket...you rock girl!

Sisters...